Leading Breakthrough Change With David Pottruck

Leading Breakthrough Change With David Pottruck Ep 47

Life is about what you learn and how you share that learning with others. Wouldn't you agree?

That quote David Pottruck speaks volumes about the type of leader David is and the principles he teaches at the Wharton Business School's Center for Leadership and Change Management.

It's not often that I get to talk with a Titan of industry. When I learned that opportunity was being offered and I would have the honor of featuring David on the podcast I wondered how his vast experience would actually translate into something small business owners could use.

Days later I received his book STACKING THE DECK, How to Lead Breakthrough Change Against Any Odds and once I opened and began to thumb through it was apparent the information in this work would not only be beneficial to my audience but have a direct impact on my business. As entrepreneurs we have to lead our clients through change, our teams through change and even our spouses have to deal with change in our business. We dig deep into those very issues in our time together.

Here are some highlights of my conversation with David:

We discussed two types of fears:

Fear and resistance from the people involved with your business or in your organization and the right steps you need to take get your people’s buy in.
Your own fear of making a mistake and how to conquer them through strategies such as making noble failures. - Very interesting concept here so listen to the podcast for details.

David’s process of piloting, which he calls ‘sneakaware,’ meaning you have to get to the market quickly and test the waters first if before you find out that nobody wants your product,
The difference and impact of slowing down your internal clock and giving your teams time to think and share their thoughts can make in making them accept change.
The difference between motivation and inspiration.
How problems can give us competitive advantage amongst other companies and how he never stops learning to continuously improve himself.
His recommended regimens for entrepreneurs for self-development including writing your goals down, keeping fit and holding yourself accountable.

Quotes that David mentioned in this interview:

Life is about what you learn and how you share that learnings with others.
You can’t steal second base when your foot is still on the first.
Look at change through the lens of the employees.
Showing respect, participatively listening to what others has to say will grant immense buy in.

More background info on David

David is also the Chairman of HighTower Advisors, a $35 billion wealth management firm that he helped launch in 2008. He serves on the Corporate Board of Directors at Intel, and is the Chairman of the Board of CorpU, a leadership development organization that integrates social media, cloud computing, and mobile technologies help employees grow their skills and achieve greater success.

David served as the President and CEO of The Charles Schwab Corporation until 2004. He has been named one of the "Top 15 CEOs" by Worth; "CEO of the Year" by Information Week; "Executive of the Year" by the San Francisco Business Times; and "CEO of the Year" by Morningstar. He is the co-author with Terry Pearce of the best-selling CLICKS AND MORTAR: Passion Driven Growth in an Internet Driven World.

He is a Senior Fellow and adjunct faculty member at the Wharton Business School's Center for Leadership and Change Management. In 2010 and again in 2012, he was Wharton San Francisco's highest-rated faculty member and received the school's "Outstanding Teaching Award" for his class, "Leading Bold Transformational Change."

David's Latest Work:

STACKING THE DECK, How to Lead Breakthrough Change Against Any Odds.
To Connect with David Online:

Featured Sponsor

You can’t steal second base when your foot is still on the first is such a true quote. If you're not learning then you're still on first base. What will you do to win the game?

Lynda.com is the place where you can start to change that and round the bases of growth with usable business knowledge that can have a direct impact on your career. Starting today with a free 10-day trial. Just go out to lynda.com/ross to get started today.

Lynda it's used by millions of people around the world with over 3,000 courses on topics like web development, photography, visual design business courses and more.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Strategy podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe. And if you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show Don't know how to leave a review watch this video: How to leave a review on iTunes or Stitcher

Featured Artist:

Singleton Singleton was so generous to give me permission to use their music on this podcast so make sure to check them out. Also like them on Facebook: Like Singleton on Facebook